Fueled by a gaming industry that seems to keep defying all expectations, the southern Chinese enclave of Macau is on target to break its own record for visitors this year as it expands its reach across the region -- and indeed across the globe.

Nine months into 2011 and Macau has already welcomed 20.7 million visitors, according to the city's Statistics and Census Service. That marks a year-on-year rise of 11.2 percent and keeps the city on target to easily surpass last year's record of almost 25 million, the most to have ever visited the former Portuguese-administered city.